CHAPTER FOUR
“Thank God.” Sam almost
started crying again as her hand brushed against the
flowers.
They were still
there, and there was no way in hell she was going to deliver the
basket to the Choes. Not now, maybe not ever. They could find
someone else to do the flowers for Sin Moon’s wedding, someone who
didn’t have ties to malevolent entities that enjoyed killing
people.
A
connection.
A shiver swept across
her skin that had nothing to do with the cool night breeze. She
couldn’t deny that the presence she’d sensed just before she’d
entered the ruins and in the apartment with her clients was eerily
familiar.
She knew that wicked energy, and would have recognized
it the second she entered Mrs. Choe’s body if she hadn’t been so
sickened by the blood and violence. She’d bet one of her other
senses it was one, or more, of the invisible demons her parents had
summoned when she was six years old. The smell, the … feel was too similar to be ignored. Invisible
demons couldn’t hold a bat, but they’d been in that room. After
what she’d just experienced, there was no doubt about
it.
Her dreams had grown
progressively violent in recent months, but no dream could compare
to the vision she’d just had. She’d never experienced anything like
that, never felt the evil that had taken her sight so close. Not
since that night in the barn, when it had been her body the demons
invaded.
Sam shuddered,
suddenly wishing for the symbolic black shadow fingers of her
dreams. No matter how evil the energy seething from those fingers,
it was much easier to watch a shadow pass over someone’s face than
to see their life bludgeoned away with such merciless
efficiency.
“Sam, let me call you
a car. At the very least. You shouldn’t be—”
“I’m fine. Really, I
am.” She had to pull it together. There would be time to figure out
what to make of her vision once she made sure the Choes were safe
and put some distance between her and Jace.
Taking a deep breath,
Sam chucked the flowers into the Dumpster. “Choe,” she said loudly,
signaling her earbud to dial the number.
“I don’t think you
should—”
“Just a second,” Sam
said, holding up a hand. She could feel Jace’s irritation at being
ignored, but couldn’t worry about that right now. She had to talk
to Mrs. Choe. Now. Ten minutes ago, if possible.
The phone rang, two,
three times, while Sam’s heart did its best to crawl up her throat.
She couldn’t be too late. The flowers were still here. Chang-su and
Ellen had to be alive.
Finally, Mrs. Choe
answered on the fifth ring. “Hello? Sam? Where are you? We were
getting worried.”
“Oh, my God. Me too.
Very worried.” Sam laughed, a slightly hysterical sound that ended
in another sob. “I’m so glad you’re there. Listen, I’m not going to
be able to make it tonight.”
“But we were counting
on you,” Mrs. Choe said, her disapproving-mama voice making Sam
nostalgic for the mother she’d never had. Well, the mother she’d
had but couldn’t really remember.
Probably for the best. Who wanted to remember a parent who was
willing to sacrifice her children to demons? “I already made tea,
and Sin Moon is going to stop by after she gets off work to see
what you’ve done. She’s very excited.”
“I’m so sorry, but I
really can’t make it.” Sam nibbled at her lip, wondering how to
warn Mrs. Choe without sounding like a complete nutcase. “Something
came up, something serious.”
“Are you all right?
Do you need one of the boys to come over?” Mrs. Choe had three
sons, none of them much taller than Sam, but all as tough as any
Southie kid.
They were good boys,
however, and hated men like Jace. They loathed the mercenaries who
roamed the ruins even more than the demons they hunted. After all,
demons were animals that killed because they were hungry, not for
pleasure. Demons didn’t bully Southie residents for graft or have
ties to various mobs either. Nope, the Choe boys wouldn’t be
pleased to see her with a bounty hunter, despite the fact that Jace
and Stephen had been friends for as long as Sam could
remember.
Call her crazy, but
she really wasn’t in the mood for any more “big brothering”
tonight. Besides, she hadn’t seen the Choe boys in her vision. If
they stayed at home, the murder might be even less likely to come
to pass.
“No, keep the boys at
home. In fact, I think it would be best if all of you stayed at
home. Don’t answer the door and don’t invite anyone in who you
don’t know.”
The animalistic
demons that infested the Village didn’t need an invitation to enter
a home, but other demons did. Information on aura demons was
scarce—but the more “out-there” experts in demon studies believed
there were bodiless demons in existence. These demons were
invisible to the human eye and needed an invitation to come inside
a home—or a body.
In that case, the
Choes would be safer if they remained safely behind closed
doors.
“And why is this?”
Mrs. Choe asked, her voice a little colder, more distant. Another
person might not have noticed, but Samantha had become attuned to
the slightest variation in tone and pitch. It was one of the ways
she made up for not being able to see people’s facial expressions.
She was going to have to come up with a real reason for Mrs. Choe
to stay in tonight, something that would satisfy the shrewd
woman.
“I know this is a
little strange, but … I’ve heard from a reliable source that one of
the gangs plans to rob the pharmacy on the first floor of your
building tonight.” She winced slightly, wondering if Mrs. Choe
could hear the lie in her voice, the way Sam had heard suspicion in
hers. “I have no idea if they plan to hit the private residences,
but I’m hesitant to come over alone, and I really wouldn’t want you
or your family to get hurt, so—”
“Of course. No,
please. Don’t say another word. You can’t be too careful.” The
other woman’s tone warmed again, even as a new note of tension
entered her voice. “We’ll go to my sister’s in Midtown. We still
have time to make it through the barricade before curfew. You go
home and lock your doors. We’ll reschedule for early next
week.”
It wasn’t staying in,
but surely they’d be safe if they went straight to her sister’s.
Besides, Sam couldn’t think of another lie that would encourage
them to stay put. This was why she usually told the
truth.
“Great. Thanks so
much,” Sam said, deciding to hold off on backing out of the
wedding.
No need to complicate
things tonight, and who knew? Maybe the link to the aura demons
would fade. She’d gone nearly twenty years without feeling this
connected to the creatures. Surely life would return to normal in a
few weeks. Maybe it was just the identity of the demons’ intended
victims that had caused her to have such a violent response, the
fact that it was someone she knew that had given her the ability to
psychically see the murder in time to put a stop to
it.
The thought made her
feel calmer, and her hands had stopped shaking completely by the
time she said her good-byes and ended the call.
“Gangs targeting the
Choes’ building. Where did you get this information?”
“I have my sources,”
Sam said, turning back to Jace with what she hoped was a blank
look. There was no way she could try to explain what had really
happened. Anything she said would only make things worse. Jace was
just like her brother: the kind of man who was never going to
believe in a sixth sense or invisible demons, and would think a
woman who said she had visions of the future was a
freak.
“You’re full of shit
is what you are.”
“What?” The words
hurt. She knew Jace had as filthy a mouth as any of the guys who
hung out at the bar, but having him curse at her felt personal
tonight.
Hmmm, wonder why?
“You were lying. You
look to the left when you lie.”
“I do not.” Shit.
She’d just looked to the left again. Sometimes she wished the world
were a complete blank. Sometimes it seemed it would be easier to
see nothing at all instead of the vague shadows her straining eyes
could never make sense of. “Listen, I know this might seem strange,
but I promise—”
“You don’t have to
tell me what’s going on.”
“I don’t?” Well, that
was a shocker. She was accustomed to everyone being in her
business. It was part and parcel of being “impaired.” Everyone and
their uncle felt it was their duty to tell her what to do. Knowing
Jace wasn’t going to push her was … nice.
“Nope. I don’t
care.”
“Oh.” That …
wasn’t so nice.
“You can lie to your
clients and throw away your own flowers all night, but you’re not
going to do it here.”
So they were back to
the alpha-male-without-a-cause bit. Her sassy seduction hadn’t
accomplished a goddamned thing; Jace was too set in his ways.
Either that, or she’d ruined the take-a-strong-woman-to-your-bed
bit by going psycho on him ten minutes into their encounter. Guess
she’d never know which was to blame. Or if there could have been
anything between them besides some groping in a darkened
alley.
She sighed, suddenly
exhausted. And sad. “I didn’t plan on staying here. I’m going
to—”
“You’re going to your
brother’s bar,” he said, taking her by the elbow, his fingers
wrapping all the way around the bone in a way that made her feel
small, almost childlike. But not childlike enough to put up with
his bustling her off to wherever he saw fit. Jace really needed to
learn that jerking women around wasn’t okay, not even when the
woman gave you permission, which she certainly had
not.
Well, not permission
to do this, anyway.
“No, I’m not.” She
twisted easily from his grasp, using a self-defense move she’d
learned in her classes down at the Y. “I’m not going to the bar
tonight. I’m going to go home.”
“No, you’re not.
You’re going to the bar.”
“No. I’m not.” Sam
sensed him reaching for her and jumped back, nearly tripping before
she righted herself. Great. Way to show Jace she was fine on her
own. “I’m tired and I want to go home.”
“I don’t care what
you want.”
The sheer balls of
the statement made her slow to react, giving Jace time to close the
distance between them and grab her by the upper arms. He pulled her
close, flattening her breasts against his chest, sending a frisson
of awareness through her hardening nipples.
“Well, you’d better
learn to care,” she said, anger clear in her voice, though her body
seemed to like Jace’s manhandling. But then, her body just liked
Jace’s hands on her, no matter what they were doing there. “I’m
serious. If you don’t want a lawsuit, then I suggest
you—”
“You just spent five
minutes mumbling about dead people,” Jace said, his breath warm
against her cheek. Sam shivered, and fought the urge to turn her
head and find his lips with her mouth. How could she still want to
kiss this man? What was wrong with her? “I don’t think you want to
get the police involved in this. Now give me your cane. I need to
make sure you’re safe.”
“No, I won’t give,”
she whispered, not trusting her own voice not to betray her
desire.
She’d already made a
fool of herself; she wasn’t going to let Jace know how he still
affected her, even when they were arguing. Just because he’d gotten
that soft note in his voice when he’d talked about making sure she
was safe was no reason to back down and follow him meekly down the
street. She’d fantasized about his taking control in an erotic
situation, yes, but she wanted him to take control because she was
a woman he found irresistible, not a crazy person he thought
incapable of taking care of herself.
“You’re not going to
make this easy, are you?”
“No, I’m not going
to—” Her words ended in an outraged squeal as Jace inserted his
shoulder in her gut and flipped her into a fireman’s carry. Her
cane clattered to the ground as her hands instinctively braced
themselves against his back.
And ass. One hand had
definitely strayed into ass territory. And what an ass it was. Firm
and round and muscled and just … perfect. Exactly the kind of ass
she’d have loved to dig her fingernails into while Jace labored
above her, fucking her the way she’d dreamed about.
If he weren’t a
complete asshole.
But he’d taken this
too far. He had no right to pick her up and haul her back to her
brother like some kid who’d run away from home. It was
ludicrous.
“Put me down,” she
insisted, moving the hand full of ass to the small of his back. She
did not want to feel Jace up. Or at least, she didn’t want to want to feel Jace up. That was nearly the
same thing, wasn’t it?
“Sorry. Can’t do
that.” He grunted as he bent down and then stood again, presumably
retrieving her cane. “Wouldn’t feel right about it.”
“Put me down, Jace,
or I swear to God I’ll—”
“It’s not going to
happen. You might as well save your breath,” he said, as he set a
brisk pace down the street. “I’m not letting you go home alone, not
in your condition.”
Ah. So this was
because he thought she was crazy. He couldn’t let her go home. He
felt obligated to deliver her into her brother’s keeping, no matter
what she had to say about it, because she was a loon.
“And I’m sorry about
what happened back there,” he continued, obviously uncomfortable.
“I shouldn’t have touched you. It won’t happen again.”
Sam swallowed her
response and the lump that rose in her throat. She wouldn’t let her
feelings get hurt. She should have known better. This was how her
relationships always panned out. No matter how competent she was,
there always came a time when she became the helpless blind girl
who couldn’t be taken seriously.
After she’d spent two
and a half years running a successful business, and lived on her
own for nearly six months, Jace still saw her as something less
than a sighted person. That was the only reason he thought he could
get away with throwing her over his shoulder and toting her down
the street. He wouldn’t dare treat anyone else like this, not even
the shy, malleable girls he liked to take to his bed.
Like he would know a
real partner if she came up and bit him on his undeniably yummy
ass. Jace was the quintessential loner, a man who made a living
hunting dangerous creatures, did not play well with others, and
wasn’t particularly well liked. He wasn’t an easy man to relate to,
and most of the neighborhood preferred to leave him
alone.
She suddenly
understood the sentiment.
“You’re going to be
sorry you did this,” she warned, knowing better than to ask Jace to
put her down. He’d decided something in that pig head of his and
there would be no debate. But there would be payback. Oh, yes,
there would be, no doubt about that.
“Guess that’s a risk
I’ll have to take,” he said, unconcerned with the threats of a
helpless woman like her.
Good. Let him
underestimate her. She knew how to turn other people’s lack of
expectation into a tool and, occasionally, a weapon. Sooner or
later she would make Jace sorry he’d treated her like a child.
Sorry he’d taken the hottest sexual experience of her life and
ruined it with his apology.
Yeah. If the moment hadn’t already been tainted by psychic
visions of murder, you would have really been
pissed.
The inner voice. It
could always be counted on for a smart-ass remark.
The thought might
have made her smile at some other time, but the horror of the
vision was too fresh. It just wasn’t funny. It wouldn’t ever be
funny, but hopefully she could at least put it behind her. After
tonight, her awareness of the aura demons that still roamed the
earth, looking for a way to complete the summoning spell her
parents had begun, would go back to being the stuff of
nightmares.